ATTACHMENT 18 PLAN OF MANAGEMENT
3. Compliance with SEPP No. 65 – Design Quality of Residential Flat Buildings The proposal has been accompanied by a Design Verification Statement by a chartered
architect which confirms that the proposal is satisfactory with regard to the provisions of SEPP 65.
The proposal has been assessed against the provisions of the Apartment Design Guidelines (ADG) as outlined below:
Clause Design Criteria Compliance
Siting
Communal open space
25% of the site, with 50% of the area achieving a minimum of 50% direct sunlight for 2 hours midwinter.
Required: 663.5m2 Provided: 666m2 which is 25.1%.
Solar access is required to be achieved to an area of 333m2. The roof top common open space area achieves solar access to the majority of the roof area between 9am and 3pm.
Deep Soil Zone 7% of site area. On some sites it may be possible to provide a larger deep soil zone, being 10% for sites with an area of 650- 1500m2 and 15% for sites greater than 1500m2.
An area of 10m2 or 0.4% of the site is deep soil planting.
See comments below.
Separation For 5-8 storeys:
• 18m between habitable rooms/balconies
• 12m between habitable and non- habitable rooms
• 9m between non-habitable rooms
The two buildings have a minimum 10.81m separation.
See comments below in Section 4(a).
Visual privacy Visual privacy is to be provided through use of setbacks, window placements, screening and similar.
Appropriate visual privacy is achieved through window placement, use of balustrades and screens and
LOCAL PLANNING PANEL MEETING 17 MARCH, 2021 THE HILLS SHIRE
Carparking Carparking to be provided based on proximity to public transport in metropolitan Sydney. For sites within 800m of a railway station or light rail stop, the parking is required to be in accordance with the RMS Guide to Traffic Generating Development which is:
Metropolitan Sub-Regional Centres:
0.6 spaces per 1 bedroom unit.
0.9 spaces per 2 bedroom unit.
1.40 spaces per 3 bedroom unit.
1 space per 5 units (visitor parking).
The proposal complies with the ADG requirements.
Designing the building Solar and daylight access
Living and private open spaces of at least 70% of apartments are to receive a minimum of 2 hours direct sunlight between 9am and 3pm midwinter.
No - 35% of units (26 units) achieve solar access for a minimum of 2 hours midwinter.
See comments below.
Direct Sunlight A maximum of 15% of apartments in a building receive no direct sunlight between 9am and 3pm at mid-winter.
No - 22.9% of units (17 units) receive no solar access. See comments below.
Natural ventilation At least 60% of units are to be naturally cross ventilated in the first 9 storeys of a building. For buildings at 10 storeys or greater, the building is only deemed to be cross ventilated if the balconies cannot be fully enclosed.
63.5% of units (47 units) are naturally cross ventilated.
Ceiling heights For habitable rooms – 2.7m.
For non-habitable rooms – 2.4m.
For two storey apartments – 2.7m for the main living floor and 2.4m for the second floor, where it’s area does not exceed 50%
of the apartment area.
For attic spaces – 1.8m at the edge of the room with a 300 minimum ceiling slope.
If located in a mixed use areas – 3.3m for ground and first floor to promote future flexible use.
All floor to ceiling heights are 2.7 metres for residential units and 3.5m for the
ground floor commercial tenancy.
Apartment size Apartments are required to have the following internal size:
Studio – 35m2 1 bedroom – 50m2 2 bedroom – 70m2 3 bedroom – 90m2
The minimum internal areas include only one bathroom. Additional bathrooms increase the minimum internal areas by 5m2 each.
All units comply with the minimum unit area requirements.
LOCAL PLANNING PANEL MEETING 17 MARCH, 2021 THE HILLS SHIRE
A fourth bedroom and further additional bedrooms increase the minimum internal area by 12m2 each.
Apartment layout Habitable rooms are limited to a maximum depth of 2.5 x the ceiling height.
In open plan layouts the maximum habitable room depth is 8m from a window.
The unit depths do not exceed 8 metres.
Balcony area The primary balcony is to be:
Studio – 4m2 with no minimum depth
1 bedroom – 8m2 with a minimum depth of 2m
2 bedroom – 10m2 with a minimum depth of 2m
3 bedroom – 12m2 with a minimum depth of 2.4m
For units at ground or podium levels, a private open space area of 15m2 with a minimum depth of 3m is required.
All units comply with the minimum balcony areas and are useable and are directly accessible off living areas.
Storage Storage is to be provided as follows:
Studio – 4m3 1 bedroom – 6m3 2 bedroom – 8m3 3+ bedrooms – 10m3
At least 50% of the required storage is to be located within the apartment.
All storage areas meet the minimum requirement.
Apartment mix A variety of apartment types is to be provided and is to include flexible apartment configurations to support diverse household types and stages of life.
The proposal provides
a reasonable apartment mix.
a. Deep Soil Planting
The ADG requires 7% of site area to be deep soil planting. The ADG states that where a proposal does not achieve deep soil requirements, acceptable stormwater management should be achieved and alternative forms of planting provided such as on structure. The proposal has a deep soil planting zone of 10m2 or 0.4% of the site.
The applicant has submitted the following as justification for the variation:
The proposal does not meet the deep soil planting requirement in the ADG.
At the eastern end of Building B, above the basement, the proposed development
incorporates a wide landscape zone between the building and the fire egress and adjacent Town Centre entry. Whilst not technically deep soil, this area will include small tree planting and low level mass planting, and will provide amenity and privacy to the ground level apartments.
The ADG states that achieving deep soil zones that achieve the minimum criteria may not be
LOCAL PLANNING PANEL MEETING 17 MARCH, 2021 THE HILLS SHIRE
• the location and building typology have limited or no space for deep soil at ground level such as in central business districts, constrained sites, high density areas, or in centres)
• there is 100% site coverage or non-residential uses at ground floor level.
The site is in a high-density area within the Rouse Hill Town Centre and the proposed development incorporates some non-residential uses at ground level. Where a proposal does not achieve deep soil requirements on the site, the ADG confirms that the proposal requires acceptable stormwater management to compensate for the higher impervious areas and that alternative forms of planting should be provided such as on structure. The design achieves both these outcomes.
Comment:
A deep soil zone of less than 1% is provided. This is in part due to the location of the site’s constrained nature and the need to provide basement carparking under the units. The objective of the ADG is to provide areas on the site that allow for and support healthy plant and tree growth. They improve residential amenity and promote management of water and air quality.
The site is narrow and provides a minimal width for the provision of development. The proposal includes landscape planting on the site which includes native and exotic trees, shrubs, grasses and ground covers. This will ensure that the site is appropriately landscaped for an urban environment. In addition, it is noted that the existing established street tree planting along both street frontages is proposed to be retained.
b. Solar and Daylight Access and Direct Sunlight
The ADG requires that living and private open spaces of at least 70% of apartments are to receive a minimum of 2 hours direct sunlight between 9am and 3pm midwinter. The applicant has confirmed that 35% of apartments receive the required solar access which is 19 units in Building A and 7 units in Building B.
The ADG also requires that a maximum of 15% of apartments in a building receive no direct sunlight between 9am and 3pm at mid-winter. There is no solar access to 22.9% of units (17 units).
The applicant has submitted the following justification:
The ADG requires 70% of total units (ie. 28 units) to have solar penetration of more than 1m2 to the living space and private open space (POS). Owing to the orientation, context and available site depth the development permits 47% (19 units) to satisfy this requirement, however, it should be noted that:
a. ADG permits 15% (6 units) to receive no direct sunlight. Building A has 9 units (21%) due to the orientation of the site.
b. Of the remaining 12 non-compliant units,
i. 1 unit (3%) receives 2 hours of solar access to either the POS and or bedrooms areas ii. A further 4 units (12%) receive 2hours of solar access to the POS only
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iii. 7 units (18%) receive >1hr of sunlight to the POS.
In effect 60% of units receive >2hrs of sunlight to the POS and another 18% receive >1hr of sunlight to the POS.
The ADG recognises that it may not be possible to achieve the 70% solar and daylight access design criteria on some sites. This ADG lists circumstances where the criteria will be difficult to achieve as follows:
• where greater residential amenity can be achieved along a busy road or rail line by orientating the living rooms away from the noise source
• on south facing sloping sites
• where significant views are oriented away from the desired aspect for direct sunlight The subject site has context which brings these circumstances into play. Instead of a busy road or rail line, the prime living and balconies within the development cannot orientate to the north as it would look at the blank walls or the roof structure and air conditioning plant of the immediately adjoining car park and loading area. For Building B, the windows in the northern façade near the shopping centre roof can provide acoustic attenuation, balconies to the northern side of the building to receive solar access will have poor amenity.
For Building B and that part of Building A in proximity to the corner of White Hart Drive, the only orientation that has residential amenity is to the south with no other address given the adjoining development and site context. It is essentially a south facing site. The southern orientation, however, affords significant views over Tributary No 3 - a treed and vegetated riparian corridor and across the Central Residential Precinct.
The variation from this requirement is justified in this instance.
State Environmental Planning Policy (Building Sustainability Index: BASIX) 2004
This SEPP requires residential development to be certified to meet sustainability targets for reduction in potable water consumption and energy efficiency.
State Environmental Planning Policy (Remediation of Land)
As noted in Section 2.4, a Stage 1 (Preliminary Assessment) was prepared for the Master Plan application and a subsequent Stage 2 Environmental Site Assessment specifically tested for contamination of sub surface soils and groundwater. The findings of the Stage 1 and 2 studies concluded that the site was suitable for the proposed residential uses. The site was excavated as part of the construction of the town centre and adjoining roads and was subsequently landscaped as an interim use. There have been no contaminating activities on the land.
Comment:
Of the 74 units proposed, 35 receive the required solar access and 22.9% of units receive no solar access. The variation is in part due to the constrained nature of the site and the
location to the south of the Town Centre building. The proposed units will achieve a reasonable level of amenity given the orientation and location of the site.
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The proposal meets the intent of the ADG as it maximises the number of units achieving solar access. The proposed units also provide an appropriate area of private open space for each unit which is directly accessible form a living area. The proposal also provides a high level of amenity for a number of units in Building B which have views toward Tributary 3.
In addition, solar access is provided to the roof top common open space areas.
The proposed solar access is considered satisfactory in this instance.